On 7/4/04 10:29 AM, in article ,
"Chris and Jacqui Tondreau" wrote:
"AngieB" wrote in message
...
I've been lurking and reading for a little over a month now. My husband,
Randy and I decided over Memorial Day weekend to put in a pond -- we just
kinda jumped in a did it! It's small, just a 60 gallon pre-formed liner,
but
we like it. My dad had the brilliant idea to put fish in it without our
knowledge about a week after we put it in the ground. I thought the fish
were doomed for sure since it was filled with city water and we had no
plants yet. But, the 8 goldfish (2-3 inches long) and "Big Freddy" the 6
inch guy seem to be doing fine. Very active and they come to me when I go
out to feed them. It's probably too many fish for the size, but what do
you
do? My dad was being sweet, y'know?
We need to have a permanent solution for the electricity -- the orange
extension cord running to the garage is not very pretty. And I want to
landscape around it with more rocks and pea gravel. We were lucky enough
to
have all the rocks we needed to surround the pond and build the bench from
rocks that used to be a patio. Our driveway is native stone and when the
house was built in the 30s the patio was stone too. Over the years someone
pulled out the stones and piled them in the corner of the back yard. So we
just started going through the pile and building the perimeter. There's
still plenty left over for more landscaping.
I opened a webshots account so I could show you guys pictures and see if
you
had any suggestions for me. I really have no idea what I'm doing -- but
I'm
reading everything I can get my hands on. We have had consistently clear
water so far -- it did get a little dirty a couple of days ago when we had
a
huge rainstorm. And I'm doing a 20% water change once a month.
So...whaddya think? http://community.webshots.com/album/159023062ZIhpAQ
I sure enjoy reading all the posts in the group! There's so much to
learn...
Angie
Tulsa, OK
Wow! You have made a lovely little pond! You may be a tad overstocked in
the fish dept (they need about 10 gal. each), but if you're careful about
the water quality you can pull it off. And, too many fish are just an
excuse to build a bigger pond! :-)
Jacqui
I told my dad that was too many fish, but they are all getting along
swimmingly! Ha!
Oh, I wanted to share about how I put the potted plants on the side...I
didn't want to take up any of the fish's swimming space, but I was given the
horsetail and whatever the other thing is and had to do something! Here's
what I came up with: I had this triangular plastic coated wire shelf that is
supposed to mount and hang over the edge of the deck railing in the corners
-- like this:
http://tinyurl.com/yw5re. I just slipped the overhang part
under the rock and it just hangs onto the edge of the liner a couple of
inches into the water. It's a great way to put plants on the edges without
building a platform for them to sit on. It's working so far and could be
really good for plants that don't need to be all the way into the water.
Thanks for the compliment! I told my husband today about wanting to make a
stream and bigger pond. He wasn't very enthusiastic...it's back breaking
work! But even so, the rewards are so great.
I got some more varieties of sedum from my sister today to put in between
the rocks and stuff. I'm having such fun!
Angie